Sidewalk barbershops are a symbol of old Saigon. In the face of globalization and its demands for westernization, the sight of a simple chair placed beneath an awning where one can get an affordable trim just a few meters from a busy street is gradually vanishing.

“We’re going to Taipei on VietJet Air,” an acquaintance said to me. An international flight on Vietnam’s notoriously delayed airline didn’t sound like the best idea ever. But who would expect that I was set to fly to Tainan, a city on the island's southwest coast, just a few hours after the brief conversation with her. The reality was that I found it excruciatingly difficult to reject a cheap flight deal.

In full "ninja" attire, I braved congested streets under the scorching sun looking for the address. Finally, having spotted a sign that reads 'OldSchool Barbell System’ tucked deep inside Binh Thanh District, I hopped the curb, cheated my way to the destination towards a wide parking spot and prepared to enter a world secluded from the chaotic surroundings.

"Saigon in its golden age was a time to be remembered and passed down to younger generations. The vintage aesthetic trend in Vietnam has been around for a couple of years now and for me, it is a cause for celebration," owner Anh Tuyet said of the trend that has swept cafés and restaurants citywide. Thị's customers, meanwhile, are here for more than just the aesthetic.

Few people are aware that Saigon has an affordable, world-class emergency ambulance response service offering state-of-the-art treatment that begins the moment a call is placed from anywhere in the country.

The Grand-Hôtel de Saigon was founded by Henri Chavigny de Lachevrotière (1883-1951), a Eurasian journalist, plantation owner and businessman who is perhaps best known as the editor of the leading colonial-era newspapers L'Impartial (1917-1926) and La Dépêche (1928-1940).

In 1924, Chavigny de Lachevrotière set up the Société du Grand-Hôtel de Saigon and opened a café at the junction of rues Catinat [Đồng Khởi] and Vannier [Ngô Đức Kế]. In 1925, he acquired the franchise to run the new Majestic Hotel, and then in 1929 his company embarked on the construction of the 68-room Grand-Hôtel de Saigon. It was inaugurated in 1930, with Chavigny de Lachevrotière as its first director.

In fact, the Grand-Hôtel de Saigon survived for just two years; in 1932, Chavigny de Lachevrotière sold it to a French Corsican businessman named Patrice Luciani.

The original Grand-Hôtel de Saigon, pictured in the period 1930-1932.

A former deputy prison governor who had worked both at the Maison Centrale in Saigon and on the prison island of Poulo-Condor in the Côn Đảo archipelago, Luciani amassed a small fortune in the 1920s from his rubber plantation at Lai Khê, Thủ Dầu Một. In 1928, this enabled him to purchase from the Hérald family the first Saigon-Palace Hôtel, located at 82-98 boulevard Charner [Nguyễn Huệ].

Although no images of the first Saigon-Palace Hôtel have survived, a newspaper advertisement of 1929 boasts of “all modern comforts,” including “comfortable rooms and lounges at guests’ disposal” and a restaurant known for the quality of its Corsican soup, Aïoli (Provençal sauce) and French wines.

Immediately after acquiring the Grand-Hôtel de Saigon from Chavigny de Lachevrotière in 1932, Luciani closed his old hotel and changed the name of the Grand-Hôtel to “Saigon-Palace Hôtel.”

The Saigon-Palace Hôtel in the mid 1930s.

Under Luciani's management, the new Saigon-Palace Hôtel was promoted as a “Hotel of the First Order,” and during the 1930s it became one of the most successful in the city. Its terrace cafe-restaurant became famous for its nightly concerts and its spacious “salle de réunion” was always in demand for meetings by local organisations.

After Luciani retired in 1939, the Saigon-Palace Hôtel was purchased by another French Corsican businessman named Antoine Giorgetti, and it was under his management in the 1940s that it was converted into rented apartments. It is said that in the early 1950s, Graham Greene used these rented apartments as the model for Thomas Fowler's “room over the rue Catinat,” where much of the action in his novel The Quiet American takes place.

The Saigon-Palace Hôtel in the 1950s.

After 1955, the Saigon Palace was reinstated as a hotel under the Vietnamese name Sài Gòn Đại Lữ Quán, but in subsequent years it became rather shabby and down-market. It continued to function as a hotel after Reunification, although in 1989 it was renamed the Đồng Khởi Hotel, a name which is still posted today on one side of the building.

The Saigon-Palace Hôtel in 1968.

Following a major renovation in 1995-1998, the hotel reopened as the Grand Hotel. It was awarded four stars in 2004.

JavaScript must be enabled in order for you to use Google Maps.However, it seems JavaScript is either disabled or not supported by your browser. To view Google Maps, enable JavaScript by changing your browser options, and then try again.

Tim Doling is the author of the walking tours book Exploring Hồ Chí Minh City (Nhà Xuất Bản Thế Giới, Hà Nội, 2014) and also conducts 4-hour Heritage Tours of Historic Saigon and Cholon. For more information about Saigon history and Tim's tours visit his website, www.historicvietnam.com.